136 NiHjd metliod of clwibing trees. [August, 



seen men go up 60 or 70 feet, to rob a bird's nest, but practically tliere is 

 no particular limit in height. 



' They are only precluded from ascending hard, thin-barked, trees, al- 

 though these can be ascended all the same ; still some trees they practically 

 do not try, as they cannot rely on the pegs holding ; they would not even 

 hold if tied. 



' Bears ascend readily all the trees with thick barks, and tracks are often 

 seen steadily going up the face of a huge Choppa (Sampa), or Michelia, 

 50 and 60 feet high, to get a bee's nest ; they as steadily come down the 

 other side. 



' Nagas will ascend a large tree, if tJiiclc-larlced and leaning over slightly, 

 and then without any ladder at all, simply notching holes for the toes. Over 

 8 feet diameter, however, a tree becomes difficult to grasp ; but if less than 

 a foot, they seldom even notch it, and I have seen a Naga go up a Sowah 

 tree, or Caryota palm, his feet holding on merely by the slight leaf scars. The 

 first that tried it failed, and nearly fell when about 40 feet high (became 

 ' tvinded''' as they say) ; but another Naga at once pushed the first one asid 

 on coming down and went up quickly and easily. 



' I may just mention perhaps that the huge Mekai trees (Artocarpus 

 Mekahi) on the Upper Dihing, in Namrup and the Hills thereabout, have 

 literally hundreds of bee's nests on each, no doubt caused by the fact that 

 neither bears, nor Nagas, can climb them. 



' In the box sent, I have also enclosed a celt dug up at Kanoo Tea Fac- 

 tory near me, by Mr. J. W. Donaldson, who immediately gave it me. It 

 was at about 2 feet from the surface in undistuo'hed stratified loam., and found 

 while digging a hole for a tea-house post. Celts are not very uncommon, 

 though not easy to get. The Asamese say thej^ are thunder-bolts. Light- 

 ning is said to be of two kinds, ' Hil Sorog' and ' Jui Sorog', and on any- 

 thing being struck by lightning, they say, " if Hil Sorog, there will be 

 found buried 10 or 15 feet under ground a stone-axe V 



' They attach value to them as a means of charming or mesmerising ; 

 singularly enough, the superstition, referred to by Dr. Anderson, of the Pandees 

 is common here ; for they say these stone axes gradually rise to tlie surface. 



' Nagas as far as I can find out, throw them away as far as possible when 

 met with, as things that "belonged to a previous race, with which they have 

 710 business to meddle.^^ 



' For the future I will try and collect them, and attach notes to each and 

 send them to your Society. 



' I wish daily that I was living among these people in their hills. I 

 should feel quite at home there, and they would make me so at once, as we 

 now know one another well. I could then work steadily at everything that 

 wa,s of interest among these really strange people. 



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